System for prompting the caller before and after voice-over-internet-protocol call connection

ABSTRACT

A method for interacting with a calling party during a call session in a VoIP system includes determining rules to apply to the call session before, during, and after the call based on parameters associated with the calling party or a called party, where the called party and the calling party participate in the call session; storing the rules in a database such as an address book; applying the determined rules to the calling party&#39;s incoming call; outputting a prompt to the calling party; and receiving the calling party&#39;s incoming call.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

1. Technical Field

The invention relates to voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) telephonycall sessions. In particular, the invention relates to call sessionconfiguration in a VoIP telephony system based on parameters andsettings stored in a database. The application is also related to U.S.patent application filed on Dec. 27, 2005, entitled “System forCustomized Messaging Presentation Based on Called-PartyVoice-Over-Internet-Protocol Settings,” and having Ser. No. 11/318,673,and U.S. Patent Application filed on Dec. 27, 2005, entitled “System forPredefined Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol Call Parameters” and having Ser.No. 11/318,696, which are incorporated by reference herein in theirentirety.

2. Related Art

Voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephony systems provide traditional phone callingusing packet technology like the Internet. Because this technology isbased on software and open standards, much more flexibility isachievable compared to conventional telephone technology. VoIP makeseasy some things that are difficult with traditional phone networks:incoming phone calls can be automatically routed to a VoIP phone,irrespective of the connection to the network. A user may carry a VoIPphone on a trip, and connect anywhere to the Internet to receiveincoming calls. Call center agents using VoIP phones can work fromanywhere with a sufficiently fast Internet connection. In addition, VoIPphones can integrate with other services available over the Internet,including video conversation, message or data file exchange in parallelwith the conversation, audio conferencing, managing address books andpassing information about whether others (e.g. friends or colleagues)are available online to interested parties.

Most voice mail systems currently present the same experience tocallers, regardless of who they are or the circumstances of the calledparty. For some messaging systems customization is achieved by playingdifferent greetings to callers based on the time of day, the day ofweek, and/or busy/not busy line status. Other options can be manuallyturned on or off, such as by using an extended absence greeting orenabling special features like transfer-to-operator or paging services.

Voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephony systems provide traditional phone callingusing packet technology like the Internet. Because this technology isbased on software and open standards, much more flexibility isachievable. Voice over IP (VoIP) technology differs from older telephonytechnology in that it uses a data protocol over data networks. As such,there is greater flexibility and control over the calling task than theolder circuit-switched technology. This facilitates interaction withother user interaction points. One of the functions that call processingcan interact with is an address book. An address book stores names,phone numbers, addresses, etc. of a user's contacts. This integration iscurrently used to play different ring tones, offer multiple options forreply/redial, speed dialing, and alternate call forwarding options.

For example, a user can click a phone number on a web site and their IPphone calls that number. But, in this example—or the more traditionalscenario of dialing a phone number on the phone's keypad—once the phonenumber has been entered, the call is placed. It would be useful if thecaller could be prompted before the call completes to inform them ofspecial situations or to ask them about how they would like to treat thecall.

SUMMARY

In one embodiment; a method for configuring a VoIP system forpre-defined call parameters includes storing call setting parametersassociated with a VoIP call session in an address book, where theparameters are associated with called party identification recordsstored in the same address book characterizing the called parties;transmitting, to a called party, a call from a calling party, where acalled party identification record associated with the calling party isstored in the address book; determining the call setting parameterassociated with the called party identification record; initiating acall session based on the call from the calling party; and adjusting oneor more call session settings based on the determined call settingparameter.

In another embodiment, a method for customized messaging presentationbased on called-party voice-over IP (VoIP) settings in a VoIP telephonysystem includes determining settings for a calling party based onparameters associated with the calling party, where the parameters arestored in an address book accessible to a called party; storing thesettings for the calling party; identifying the calling party callingthe called party when the calling party initiates a call to the calledparty; applying the determined settings for the calling party toconfigure the call session; and responding to the calling party based onthe applied settings.

In a third embodiment, a method for interacting with a calling partyduring a call session in a VoIP system includes determining a first setof rules to apply to the call session based on parameters associatedwith the calling party or a called party, where the called party and thecalling party participate in the call session; storing the rules in adatabase such as an address book; applying the determined rules to thecalling party's incoming call; outputting a prompt to the calling party;and receiving the calling party's incoming call.

Other systems, methods, features and advantages of the invention willbe, or will become, apparent to one with skill in the art uponexamination of the following figures and detailed description. It isintended that all such additional systems, methods, features andadvantages be included within this description, be within the scope ofthe invention, and be protected by the following claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention can be better understood with reference to the followingdrawings and description. The components in the figures are notnecessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustratingthe principles of the invention. Moreover, in the figures, likereferenced numerals designate corresponding parts throughout thedifferent views.

FIG. 1 illustrates a voice-over-IP telephony system.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example method for configuring a voice-over-IP(VoIP) system for pre-defined call parameters.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example method for a customized messagingpresentation based on called-party VoIP settings in a VoIP telephonysystem.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example method for interacting with a callingparty during a call session in a VoIP system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The elements in the figures interoperate as explained in more detailbelow. Before setting forth the detail explanation, however, it is notedthat all of the discussion below, regardless of the particularimplementation being described, is exemplary in nature, rather thanlimiting. For example, although selected aspects, features, orcomponents of the implementations are depicted as being stored inmemories, all or part of systems and methods consistent with the displaysystems may be stored on, distributed across, or read from othermachine-readable media, for example, secondary storage devices such ashard disks, floppy disks, and CD-ROMs; a signal received from a network;or other forms of ROM or RAM either currently known or later developed.

Furthermore, although specific components of the architecture will bedescribed, methods, systems, and articles of manufacture consistent withthe architecture may include additional or different components. Forexample, a processor may be implemented as a microprocessor,microcontroller, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC),discrete logic, or a combination of other type of circuits or logic.Similarly, memories, may be DRAM, SRAM, Flash, or any other type ofmemory. Flags, data, databases, tables, and other data structures may beseparately stored and managed, may be incorporated into a single memoryor database, may be distributed, or may be logically and physicallyorganized in many different ways. Programs may be parts of a singleprogram, separate programs, or distributed across several memories andprocessors.

FIG. 1 illustrates a VoIP telephony system 100. The VoIP system 100 mayinclude a telephone 101 connected to a local area network (LAN) 105. TheLAN 105 may connect multiple computers, such as desktop PC's 107 andlaptop PC's 108, through a router such as a broadband router 106. TheLAN 105 may also connect to a source of power 104. Any of the computers107 and 108 may serve as the source or destination of VoIP data traffic.The LAN 105 may connect to a device for transmitting data through anetwork, such as a broadband modem 106. Examples of broadband modemsinclude dial-up modems, cable modems, digital subscriber link (DSL)modems, ISDN modems, and other data modems. The modem 106 may connect toa network such as a VoIP network 109. The VoIP network 109 may beinterfaced to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) 110, whichmay be interfaced with the Internet 111, but the VoIP network 109 mayalso connect to other LAN's, or wide area networks (WANs) (not shown) orany network. A user may then call or receive with both IP-IP callsessions or mixed IP-circuit-switched calls. A second telephone 110 maybe connected to the Internet 111, and the telephone 110 may serve as asource or destination of call session data to connect to the firsttelephone 101. The VoIP system 100 may also include storage devices,servers, wireless devices, portable electronic devices, set-top boxes,media devices, cellular phones, and entertainment devices (not shown),which may all provide data to or receive data from the LAN 105 andtransmit across the Internet 109.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example method for configuring a voice-over-IP(VoIP) system for pre-defined call parameters. Any of the steps of FIG.2 can be performed by any suitable component of the system 100 ofFIG. 1. In one embodiment, the VoIP system 100 stores, at step 201, callsetting parameters associated with a VoIP call session in a database,where the parameters are associated with called party identificationrecords stored in the same database characterizing called parties. Thecall setting parameters may be stored in a memory resident to the LAN105, a desktop PC 107, a laptop 108, or memory interfaced to any of thedevices connected to the system 100. The database may be an address bookmaintained by a user of the system 100, where the address book containsfields of contact information associated with called or calling parties.The address book may contain information such as a contact name, atelephone number, a geographic location, call treatment templates, abusiness association, family information, environmental settingsassociated with the called party's location, special accommodations forthe called party related to disabilities or age requirements, callsession security levels required, and recording options for the callsession.

The system 100 transmits, to a called party, a call from a callingparty, where a called party identification record associated with thecalling party is stored in the database, at step 202. The system 100then determines, at step 203, the call setting parameter associated withthe called party identification record. The VoIP system 100 may initiatea call session based on the call from the calling party, at step 204 andadjust, at step 205, one or more call session settings based on thedetermined call setting parameter. For example, if a user knows that aphone number in their address book is on a noisy manufacturing floor, asetting could be enabled that automatically changes the sound volumelevel of their voice by 5 dB. Or, the same sound level boost could beassociated with all phone numbers associated with the user's elderlyparent who is hard-of-hearing. In these situations, another setting alsocould be enabled to turn on a higher quality-of-service codec thatimproves the speech intelligibility of the call.

A variation of this idea is to alter the nature of the call. When an IPphone user makes or receives a call from a contact who has a settingenabled that designates them as deaf, the call ia set up in two-waytext-mode. In one embodiment, the system 100 stores calling party callsetting parameters associated with a VoIP call session in the database,where the second parameters are associated with the calling partyidentification records stored in the same database characterizing thecalled party. The system 100 then determines the calling party callsetting parameter associated with the calling party identificationrecord; and adjusts one or more call session settings based on thedetermined calling party call setting parameter. The system 100 accessesa two-way text call module, such as a TeleTYpe (TTY) module, incommunication with the VoIP system if the calling party identificationrecord or the called party identification record indicates, at step 206,that a two-way text call is required for communication and initiate, atstep 207, a two-way text call session between the calling party and thecalled party. A TDD module or instant messaging module may also be used.

In some embodiments, the same setting also has a speech impaired optionthat sets up the call from the user to the contact as voice audio, butfrom the contact to the user as text. If the system 100 determines thata party is speech impaired, at step 208, the system 100 initiates aspeech-impaired call session option, at step 209 where data transmittedfrom a speech impaired party is transmitted to a non-speech impairedparty as text data only and data transmitted from a non-speech impairedparty is transmitted to a speech impaired party as audio data only,where a speech impaired party is designated based on the calling partyidentification record or the called party identification record. One-wayand two-way text call sessions may be initiated for both incoming andoutgoing calls. In addition, one embodiment may include using atext-to-speech (TTS) module from a deaf or speech-impaired caller and aspeech-to-text module from the hearing party to the deaf/speech-impairedparty.

Other settings could enable call encryption or begin logging/recordingof the call. In some embodiments, the system 100 determines that achanged encryption level is required based on an identification record.The system 100 then changes the encryption level of the call sessionaccordingly. In one embodiment, the system 100 determines that arecording of the call session is required or forbidden based on the callsetting parameter associated with the called party contact informationand records the call session, if recording is permitted or required,where the recording comprises storing the data associated with the callsession in a storage medium. Alternatively, the system 100 may preventrecording of the call session if recording is forbidden. The system maycontinue, 210, the call session with the adjusted parameters.

The above are examples of how this idea is functionally implemented. Thebasic premise, however, is that the user is able to control settingsassociated with contacts in an address book. When VoIP communicationsare set up, these settings are checked and parameters of the call areconfigured based on these individualized settings, not global parametersfor the user or the network.

Two of the most common features to integrate with calling are findme/follow me and other advanced call forwarding options, as well as anaddress book of contacts. VoIP systems can have multiple selectable callforwarding options, including settings that try the subscriber atmultiple phone numbers—ringing sequentially or simultaneously. Combinedwith an address book, a single template of call forwarding options cantreat callers differently based on who is calling.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example method for a customized messagingpresentation based on called-party VoIP settings in a VoIP telephonysystem. Any of the steps of FIG. 2 can be performed by any suitablecomponent of the system 100 of FIG. 1. In one embodiment, the system 100determines, at step 301, call session settings for a messaging systembased on parameters associated with the calling party from a database,where the parameters are stored in a database accessible to a calledparty. The database may comprise an address book maintained by thecalled party, where the address book comprises records associating alist of calling parties with a list of settings to apply to the callingparties. The system 100 searches the database The system 100 stores, atstep 302, the call session settings for the calling party. The settingsmay be stored in memory resident to a device in communication with theVoIP system 100, such as a desktop computer 107, a laptop 108, router106, or in memory interfaced to the system 100. The system 100 thenidentifies, at step 303, the calling party calling the called party whenthe calling party initiates a call to the called party. The system 100applies, at step 304 the determined call session settings for thecalling party, and responds, at step 305 to the calling party based onthe applied call session settings. The system 100 may respond to thecalling party by determining whether to notify the called party of thecalling party's call based on the applied call session settings.

The call session settings that a user may select include transfer orpaging options to the calling party within the messaging system,different outgoing messages, different message types (such as spoken,text, TTY or other options), a message type delivered to the callingparty, a message duration allotted to the calling party, or allowablecalling restrictions based on the time, date, or month of the call. Theparameters that a user may associate the call session settings withinclude the name of the calling party, phone number of the callingparty, the title of the calling party, location of the calling partyincluding area codes, location of the called party, call treatmenttemplates, or a business association of the calling party. Othersettings and parameters are possible, depending on the address book andneeds of the user.

In this manner, different calls from different callers are handleddifferently, depending on the settings specified by the subscriber. Forexample, a call from a subscriber's supervisor may be sent directly tothe subscriber's cell phone and then a home phone number, while a familymember's call goes directly to the home phone number, a businessacquaintance goes to the office phone and then the cell phone, and apersistent telemarketer goes directly to voice mail. Such rules can beassociated with individual contacts in an address book or with groups ofcontacts.

The VoIP system 100 may determine whether to notify, at step 306, acalled party of the calling party's call if the calling party is anallowed calling party based on the applied settings. If the callingparty is an allowed calling party, the system 100 may indicate thepresence of the call by the ring type associated with the calling party,transfer the call to a message center, or page the called party, orforward the call, at step 307, and then initiate a call session at step308. If the calling party is not an allowed calling party, such as whenthe calling party name, location, or business association is controlledor screened for incoming calls by the called party, the system 100 mayreject the call session, and terminate the call session, at step 309.Alternatively, the system 100 may provide a message to the calling partywhen the call is rejected.

Voice over IP technology enables a subscriber to define different callrouting experiences for their callers using a menu of options,customized to a particular caller or group of callers. These sameoptions used for call routing can also be used to shape the caller'sexperience when they are sent to the messaging (i.e., voice mail)system. The Voice over IP system identifies the caller (e.g., by thephone number, IP address, etc, using a caller identification module forexample) and, based on defined settings for that caller or the group thecaller has been associated with, passes that information to themessaging system. Based on the identity, the messaging system presents adifferent experience to the caller. For example, if the caller is thesubscriber's supervisor, the caller will be allowed to record a messagelonger than normal, be offered an option to page the subscriber, havethe option to press a key to be transferred to someone else, and/or heara special greeting. On the other hand, if a telemarketer calls, theywill be played a special greeting, not be offered the paging or transferto operator options, and have the maximum message length drasticallyreduced.

In addition to the messaging system being customized based on who iscalling, in other embodiments it is customized based on current callprocessing settings. For example, if a call forwarding template has beenset up for use during vacations (whether activated manually orautomatically based on a calendar or other means), the extended absencegreeting can be automatically turned on. Also, the maximum messagelength is shortened to conserve storage space while the subscriber willnot be checking and deleting messages. Other services like paging areturned off so as not to disturb the subscriber's vacation, but otherservices like a transfer-to-operator option could be turned on to act ascoverage during an extended absence.

The method illustrated in FIG. 3 improves on existing technology byproviding a subscriber more control over the experience of their callersby integrating features of Voice over IP (VoIP) and unified messagingsystems, as well as making this control more user-friendly because thesettings for two systems are combined. It does so in two major ways.First, it allows the caller's experience to be customized based oncaller identity (e.g., supervisor, telemarketer, etc.). Secondly, it cancustomize the caller's experience based on the circumstances of thesubscriber (e.g., on vacation). Such integration will improve theusefulness and usability of both services.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example method for interacting with a callingparty during a call session in a VoIP system. During the prompt generalrules can be applied. In one embodiment, the VoIP system 100 determines,at step 401, a first set of rules to apply to the call session based onparameters associated with the calling party or a called party, wherethe called party and the calling party participate in the call session.The system 100 also may determine a second set of rules to apply to thecalling party after the call session is terminated, at step 402. Inaddition, the system 100 may determine a third set of rules to apply tothe calling party during the call session, at step 403. The system 100stores, at step 404, the first, second, and third set of rules in adatabase. The database may comprise an address book maintained by thecalled party, where the address book comprises records associating alist of calling parties with a list of settings to apply to the callingparties. The system 100 applies, at step 405, the determined rules tothe calling party's incoming call, and outputs a prompt to the callingparty, at step 406. The system 100 may determine whether to continue thecall session based on the called party parameters, at step 407. If thesystem 100 determines the call session should be continued, the system100 then receives the calling party's incoming call, at step 408. Thesystem 100 applies the third set of rules during the call session, atstep 409, and terminates the call session when completed, at step 410.If the system 100 determines that the call session should not becontinued, the system 100 may terminate, at step 410, the call session.After the call session is terminated, the system 100 applies the secondset of rules, at step 411. For example, if a destination's time is aftermidnight, the system informs the caller of this and asks them if theyare sure they want to continue with the call. But rules could also beindividualized to the specific called party. If the user has the calledparty's contact information saved in an address book, the system checksthe stored time parameters or other settings for that contact. In theabove scenario, the warning time could be moved up to 9 pm because thatperson goes to bed early. This would be especially useful when callingdifferent time zones as the time parameters could be adjusted for localtime.

Special messages may be solely informative, also. For example, if abusinessperson is calling a client, information about the area they arein (e.g., weather retrieved from the Internet), the company they workfor (e.g., dollar value of current contracts from an intranet database),or specific to that person (e.g., spouse's name from their address book)is presented to the user.

During the prompt, selections can be made by the user from myriadoptions. Default selections for these options could be set at the systemlevel, by the user for all of their calls, and/or individualized fordifferent contacts in their address book. These options can affect whatthe called party hears (e.g., ring tone) or sees (e.g., caller IDinformation), what the user hears (e.g., ring-back tone) or sees (e.g.,timer). A service provider may charge to use some of these options.

A prompt may also be presented after the call disconnects. Options maybe presented that ask the user what they would like to do about the callthat has just finished. For example, a billing code for the call couldbe assigned or changed, information may be presented (e.g., how long thecall lasted), the user may listen to voice mail left during the call, oran option to redial may be presented, for example, at step 412, whichmay be useful for calls that frequently disconnect. Other options arepossible.

The prompt discussed above could be presented visually on a screenphoneor computing device, or other visual display, and/or audibly via thephone loudspeaker being dialed, or via other speaker elements. Via avisual presentation, the mechanism used to display the before-callprompt could remain, in whole or in part, after call completion.

The sequence diagrams may be encoded in a signal bearing medium, acomputer readable medium such as a memory, programmed within a devicesuch as one or more integrated circuits, or processed by a controller ora computer. If the methods are performed by software, the software mayreside in a memory resident to or interfaced to the LAN 105, acommunication interface, or any other type of non-volatile or volatilememory interfaced or resident to the VoIP system 100. The memory mayinclude an ordered listing of executable instructions for implementinglogical functions. A logical function may be implemented through digitalcircuitry, through source code, through analog circuitry, or through ananalog source such as through an analog electrical, audio, or videosignal. The software may be embodied in any computer-readable orsignal-bearing medium, for use by, or in connection with an instructionexecutable system, apparatus, or device. Such a system may include acomputer-based system, a processor-containing system, or another systemthat may selectively fetch instructions from an instruction executablesystem, apparatus, or device that may also execute instructions.

A “computer-readable medium,” “machine-readable medium,”“propagated-signal” medium, and/or “signal-bearing medium” may compriseany unit that contains, stores, communicates, propagates, or transportssoftware for use by or in connection with an instruction executablesystem, apparatus, or device. The machine-readable medium mayselectively be, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical,electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device,or propagation medium. A non-exhaustive list of examples of amachine-readable medium would include: an electrical connection“electronic” having one or more wires, a portable magnetic or opticaldisk, a volatile memory such as a Random Access Memory “RAM”(electronic), a Read-Only Memory “ROM” (electronic), an ErasableProgrammable Read-Only Memory (EPROM or Flash memory) (electronic), oran optical fiber (optical). A machine-readable medium may also include atangible medium upon which software is printed, as the software may beelectronically stored as an image or in another format (e.g., through anoptical scan), then compiled, and/or interpreted or otherwise processed.The processed medium may then be stored in a computer and/or machinememory.

While various embodiments of the invention have been described, it willbe apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that many moreembodiments and implementations are possible within the scope of theinvention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be restricted except inlight of the attached claims and their equivalents.

1. A method for interacting with a calling party during a call sessionin a voice-over-Internet-protocol (VoIP) system comprising: determininga first set of rules from a database to apply to the call session basedon parameters associated with the calling party or a called party, wherethe called party and the calling party participate in the call sessionover the VoIP system; storing the rules in the database; applying thedetermined rules to a calling party's incoming VoIP call received overthe VoIP system; generating a prompt to the calling party, the promptbeing based on the first set of rules and the parameters associated withthe calling party or a called party, the prompt defining a plurality ofcall processing features or options; communicating the prompt to thecalling party; receiving a response to the prompt from the callingparty; receiving the calling party's incoming call over the VoIP system;processing the calling party's incoming call according to the responseto the prompt; determining a second set of rules from the database toapply to the calling party after the call session is terminated based onparameters associated with the calling party or a called party, thesecond set of rules being associated with the terminated call; storingthe second set of rules in the database; and applying the second set ofrules after the calling party's call session is terminated, includingpresenting to the calling party information related to the call sessionduration, billing information related to the call session, or messagesrecorded during the call session.
 2. The method of claim 1 wheredetermining the first set of rules comprises determining the parameterscomprising a local time where the calling party is located, a local timewhere the called party is located, the location of the calling party,the location of the called party, a business association related to thecalling party or the called party, and personal information related tothe calling party or the called party.
 3. The method of claim 2 wheredetermining the first set of rules comprises determining a third set ofrules to apply to the calling party during the call session; andapplying the third set of rules to the calling party during the callsession.
 4. The method of claim 2 where applying the determined rulescomprises: providing a message to the calling party based on the time ofday where the calling party is located or the time of day where thecalled party is located; and prompting the calling party to continue thecall session based on the local time of the calling party or the localtime of the called party.
 5. The method of claim 2 where applying thedetermined rules comprises: providing a message to the calling party,where the message is related to local conditions of the called party orinformation associated with the called party; and prompting the callingparty to decide a course of action based on the message.
 6. The methodof claim 5 where the local conditions of the called party includeweather information, traffic information, or event informationassociated with the called party's location.
 7. The method of claim 3where applying the third set of rules comprises: applying a general ruleto all calling party calls, if the called party sets the general rule;providing a called party specific alert to the called party, where thecalled party specific alert is contained in the third set of rules; andproviding a calling party specific alert to the calling party, where thecalling party specific alert is contained in the third set of rules. 8.The method of claim 7 where providing the called party specific alertcomprises providing a specific calling party ring tone or a visualand/or audible caller identification of the calling party.
 9. The methodof claim 8 where providing the calling party specific alert comprisesproviding a specific called party ring-back tone or a visual and/oraudible indication of the call duration.
 10. The method of claim 1 whereapplying the second set of rules comprises redialing the called party toinitiate a new call session.
 11. The method of claim 1 wherecommunicating the prompt comprises outputting the prompt visually. 12.The method of claim 11 where communicating the prompt comprisescommunicating the prompt on a visual display.
 13. The method of claim 11where communicating the prompt comprises communicating the promptaudibly.
 14. The method of claim 13 where communicating the promptcomprises communicating the prompt via a phone speaker or computerspeaker.
 15. The method of claim 11 where communicating the promptcomprises communicating the prompt before the call session is initiated,during at least a portion of the duration of the call session, duringthe entire call session, or after the call session is terminated.
 16. Acomputer useable medium storing computer readable code, the computerreadable code to cause a processor to perform acts comprising:determining a first set of rules to apply to a call session in a voiceover Internet protocol (VoIP) system based on parameters associated witha calling party or a called party, where the called party and thecalling party participate in the call session over the VoIP system;storing the rules in a database; applying the determined rules to acalling party's incoming VoIP call; generating a prompt to the callingparty, the prompt being based on the first set of rules and theparameters associated with the calling party or a called party, theprompt defining a plurality of call processing features or options; andcommunicating the prompt to the calling party; receiving a response tothe prompt from the calling party; receiving the calling party'sincoming call over the VoIP system and processing the calling party'sincoming call according to the response to the prompt; determining asecond set of rules to apply to the calling party after the call sessionis terminated, the second set of rules being associated with theterminated call; storing the second set of rules in the database; andapplying the second set of rules after the calling party's call sessionis terminated, including presenting information to the calling party,where the information is related to the call session duration, billinginformation related to the call session, or messages recorded during thecall session.
 17. The computer useable medium of claim 16 furthercomprising computer readable code to determine parameters comprising alocal time where the calling party is located, a local time where thecalled party is located, the location of the calling party, the locationof the called party, a business association related to the calling partyor the called party, and personal information related to the callingparty or the called party.
 18. The computer useable medium of claim 16further comprising computer readable code to cause a processor toperform acts of: providing a message to the calling party based on thetime of day where the calling party is located or the time of day wherethe called party is located; and prompting the calling party to continuethe call session based on the local time of the calling party or thelocal time of the called party.
 19. The computer useable medium of claim17 further comprising computer readable code to cause a processor toperform acts of determining a third set of rules to apply to the callingparty during the call session, comprising applying the third set ofrules to the calling party during the call session.
 20. The computeruseable medium of claim 16 further comprising computer readable code tocause a processor to perform acts of: providing a message to the callingparty, where the message is related to local conditions of the calledparty or information associated with the called party; and prompting thecalling party to decide a course of action based on the message.
 21. Thecomputer useable medium of claim 19 further comprising computer readablecode to cause a processor to perform acts of: applying a general rule toall calling party calls, if the called party sets the general rule;providing a called party specific alert to the called party, where thecalled party specific alert is contained in the third set of rules; andproviding a calling party specific alert to the calling party, where thecalling party specific alert is contained in the third set of rules. 22.The computer useable medium of claim 16 further comprising computerreadable code to cause a processor to execute steps of redialing thecalled party to initiate a new call session.